Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/60

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. 11. JULY 15, uie.

'Corporation. The treasure was acquired by an .antiquary and transferred to the trustees of the British Museum as a votive offering originally ^deposited in Lough Foyle, and was not looked upon as treasure-trove. The question as to the right of the property having been raised in Parliament, the Crown claimed it as treasure-trove, -and commenced a civil action for its recovery. The defence of the trustees was twofold, namely (1) denial that the articles in question were 'treasure-trove, and (2) that if the articles were actxially treasure-trove, they then vested in the Tiish Society, by Charter of Charles II., and not in the Crown or in themselves. The charter -expressly granted to the Irish Society in so many specific words the following franchises or royal privileges : waived chattels, estrays, forfeiture -of felons, deodands, wrecks of sea, flotsam and 'jetsam.* No special mention, however, was made as in the case of the two grants concerning the City and Southwark already cited in the charter, of treasure- trove (thesaurus inventus), use only being made of the general term " fran- chises." In giving judgment Mr. Justice Farwell x held, inter alia, (1) that the articles in question were treasure -trove, and by virtue of the prero- gative Royal belonged to his Majesty the King, and (2) that treasure-trove cannot be passed by <the King to a subject under the general word " franchises," but must be expressly mentioned in the charter in specific words (verba specialia). The treasure-trove ultimately was handed by the King to the Royal Irish Academy for deposit in .the National Museum of Dublin. The case did not come before the Coroner. Had an inquest been held, publicity would at once have been given to the facts, with the result that the treasures probably would never have left Ireland, and the Treasury and Trustees of the British Museum would have been saved the expensive 'luxury of appeal to the Courts of Law.

APPENDIX L.

Gross, in ' Select Cases from the Coroners, Holls (preserved in the Public Record Office)' A.D. 1265-1413,' says he failed to find a single record among those cases investigated by him of an inquest concerning treasure-trove. Dr. Sharpe, in his interesting ' Calendar of Coroners' Rolls of the City of London (preserved at the Guildhall), A.D. 1300-1378,' also remarks the absence of any Inquest on treasure-trove among the City rolls. Neither is there any such record in ' Letter-Book B ' by the same author, dealing with Coroners' Rolls of the thirteenth century. Personally I have been unable to find any such inquest in the City Records discovered by me at the Central -Criminal Court a.nd dating from 1788-1861, and 'from then up to the present time.

" Wreck " (properly so called) is where goods shipwrecked are cast upon the land ; and goods -which are termed flotsam, jetsam and Ugan, become and are deemed wrecks if they be cast upon the land. " Flotsam " is when the ship is split, and the goods float upon the water between high and low water mark. "Jetsam " is when the ship is in danger of foundering, and for the purpose of saving the ship, the goods are cast into the sea. " Ligan " is when heavy goods are thrown into the sea with a buoy, so that the ..mariners may know where to retake them.

Outside the City and Southwark, inquests on treasure-trove have in recent years been reported from time to time. For example, twenty-six >uch inquests are returned as having been held in England and Wales between 1901 and 1913 in Part I. of ' Criminal Judicial Statistics.' Between July, 1850, and March, 1868, only twenty-four claims to treasure-trove were made by the Treasury in England. The King, City, a'nd Guildhall Museum would undoubtedly benefit if rases of failure of the common law duty of every one having knowledge of the finding of hidden treasure to notify the trove to the Coroner were made a statutory penal offence. Undoubtedly much hidden 'treasure, of considerable antiquarian interest and value, discovered on the pulling down of ancient buildings, must have been lost to the City owing to the want of power to prosecute and punish every one apart from the first finder having knowledge of treasure failing to notify such discovery to the proper officer appointed for the purpose, namely, the King's Coroner.

It has always been the custom of Coroners at inquests on alleged treasure-trove to take evidence to decide whether or not the treasure be actually treasure-trove ; and if so, to acquaint the King of the fact, or in the event of the Royal privilege being in the hands of his subjects as in the case of the City then it becomes the duty of the Coroner to inform your Corporation of the finding of the jury, and of the City's right to the treasure- trove.

In India it is obligatory for the finder of treasure to declare such find to a public official appointed for the purpose. The Indian Treasure- Trove Act of 1878, enacts that by " Treasure " is meant anything of any value hidden in the soil or in any way affixed thereto. Also that the finder must under penalty give notice (1) in writing to the Government collector when the treasure exceeds 10 rupees in value ; (2) of the place where it was found, and (3) of the date of finding.

Bracton, in his ' Laws and Customs of England,' written temp. Edw. I. in Latin in the latter half of the thirteenth century, under ' Office of the Coroner in Treasure-Trove ' (Twiss's ed., 1878), says in vol. ii. p. 287 : " And it is of their office, if treasure be said to have been found, and of at- tachments thereupon to be made. In the first place they ought to inquire of those who have been reported thereon, and if any one has been found seised, or if there be a presumption against any one that he has found treasure from the circumstances that a person has indulged himself more abundantly in food and more richly in dress as above said, and if any such an one be found as above, he ought to be attached by four or six securities."

Britton, another great authority, in his Law Treatise written in French in 1291-1292 (Nichols's ed.), chap, xviii. p. 66, says : " Concerning treasure (tresor trove) found concealed in the earth ....which of right belong to and are detained from us, let careful inquiry be made, and of the names of those who found them, and to whose hands they have come, and to what amount. For treasure hid in the earth and found shall belong to the finder ; and any person who shall find such treasure in the earth shall forthwith (hastivement) inform the coroner (corounmtr) of the district or the bailiffs thereof; and the coroner shall go without delay and inquire whether any of it has been carried off, and by whom 1 and save all